TRIP REPORT : Monitoring Makara Foreshore Reserve plant communities

 Saturday :   2 September 2006

Darea Sherrat (left) and Rodney Lewington endure the howling gale to survey Makara Foreshore Reserve.   Photo: Barbara Mitcalfe.

We were joined by WCC ecologist Amber Bill, WCC ranger Stu Bailey, and Marika Hilhorst, a Makara resident.   A briefing by Maggy and Barbara provided background information about the reserve, and labelled specimens of weeds likely to be encountered on the transects were passed round.   Chris and Barbara showed members around, pointing out that despite prolonged wet weather having produced a dense infestation of weeds, the reserve is now well into the restoration phase.   Recent plantings of locally sourced sand tussock / Austrofestuca littoralis, thick-leaved coastal mahoe / Melicytus crassifolius, pingao / Desmoschoenus spiralis, silvery sand grass / Spinifex sericeus, and the endemic, coastal grass Trisetum antarcticum * are all thriving.   A minute patch of the regionally critically threatened native Crassula mataikona was shown as an example of a cryptic species prone to be overlooked, hence categorised as “Data-Deficient” as well.   A typical Makara nor’westerly gale made working conditions difficult but by lunch time all the monitoring had been done.   The resultant data will be in the next newsletter.   No indigenous or adventive additions were recorded.   Some BotSoccers stayed on to help with weeding, which was much appreciated.   Cafe Makara was a welcome haven afterwards.

Participants : Stu Bailey, Amber Bill, Frances Forsyth, Dave Holey, Marika Hilhorst, Chris Hopkins, Chris Horne, Rodney Lewington, Barbara Mitcalfe (deputy leader), Mick Parsons, Darea Sherratt, Sunita Singh, Maggy Wassilieff (leader), Julia White.

Barbara Mitcalfe

* See article about Trisetum antarcticum.